Boost for Isle of Wight animal charity team

Sunday, January 29, 2017 - 16:00

ISLE of Wight charity Wild Bird Aid is flying high having been granted charitable status.Formerly Wight Nature, the charity was formed more than a year ago and is run entirely from the homes of Kerstin Voigt and Claire Newsome, in Wootton. Kerstin said the move could potentially be a huge boon for the charity, providing security and sustainability to the operation.

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"Becoming a charity means we can apply for grants and raise more awareness of our cause," said Kerstin, who has been rescuing birds for 30 years. "I always want to stress we do provide a community service with what we do, even though the main focus is on the birds, it benefits the public, too. "However, the costs are endless, every bag of food, aviary, vet bill, but hopefully having charitable status will help our cause." Wild Bird Aid has cost Kerstin and Claire thousands of pounds to keep running and in the summer of last year, the pair nearly had to call time on the venture.

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